Arafat Says PLO Is Vital for Peace : He’s Surprisingly Defiant After Meeting Hussein

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Tuesday there will be no peace in the Middle East without the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Arafat appeared at a crowded news conference a day after holding lengthy talks with Jordan’s King Hussein, amid continuing speculation that the monarch may be pressuring the PLO to make concessions to get peace talks with Israel rolling before the end of the year.

But Arafat appeared surprisingly defiant and said he is not prepared to accept American conditions in order to join the peace process. “I’m not begging for qualifications from anybody,” the PLO leader said.

The United States has insisted that it will not talk directly with the PLO until the organization explicitly accepts Israel’s right to exist and accepts two key U.N. Security Council resolutions--242 and 338--that guarantee the security of all states in the region.

Arafat met Tuesday with Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid Rifai, but King Hussein did not participate in the negotiations. There was no word about when Arafat’s discussions with Hussein’s government will be concluded.

There was considerable confusion about the significance of Arafat’s talks with the Jordanians, since both sides have said they are reassessing their relations in the wake of several recent setbacks, including the hijacking of the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro by four Palestinian gunmen and the collapse of diplomatic talks between PLO officials and the British earlier this month.

Arafat appeared relaxed and optimistic, while Jordanian officials portrayed the king as near the end of his patience with the guerrilla leader.

Arafat confirmed that the two sides have agreed to form a permanent committee to work out the difficulties in their relationship, and he indicated that the committee includes himself and Hussein. Several temporary committees formed in the past by the PLO have failed to accomplish anything of substance.

Little Sign of Restraint

If the king had pressed the PLO leader to moderate his positions, there was little evidence of restraint on Tuesday.

Arafat excoriated the U.S. Administration’s role in the Middle East, saying President Reagan is dragging the American people into the Arab-Israeli conflict in the same way that President Lyndon B. Johnson involved the United States in Vietnam.

Publicly, at least, Arafat appeared to be rejecting any suggestion that the PLO might accept anything less than a direct role in any peace talks with Israel.

“There will be no peace in the area without the PLO,” he said. “And there will not be peace nor a solution by sidestepping the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres has ruled out any talks that include the PLO. There has been speculation that the United States had been seeking to persuade King Hussein to begin talks involving a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation that does not include PLO officials.

His Consistent Position

Arafat again propounded his consistent position, which is unacceptable to the United States, that the U.N. resolutions treat the Palestinians only as refugees and ignore their claim to a homeland.

In fact, Arafat does not appear to have been moved to change any of his previous positions after his discussions with Hussein.

He said he opposes terrorism but added that the United Nations gave Palestinians the legal justification to resist Israeli occupation of Arab lands.

Arafat defended Abul Abbas, a Palestinian leader who is wanted by the United States for allegedly masterminding the Achille Lauro hijacking. He said that Abbas, a leader of the Palestine Liberation Front who is loyal to Arafat, was not involved in the planning of the operation.

But he also said the killing of Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old American passenger on the Achille Lauro, has left the PLO leadership “very upset.”

Rancor Over Air Raid

A major part of Arafat’s rancor toward the United States appeared to stem from the Oct. 1 Israeli air raid against his headquarters in Tunisia. He accused the Americans of complicity in the attack.

The only time Arafat appeared visibly upset during the news conference came when he was asked about Jordan’s warming relations with Syria, a bitter foe of Arafat.

He lamely expressed the hope that President Hafez Assad, who tried to destroy Arafat two years ago, would join the PLO and Jordan in the peace process.